Consistency is ultimate goal that Ipswich boys soccer team is chasing

Jonathan Keefe just doesn’t know what he’ll see from his Ipswich Tigers boys soccer team on a day-to-day basis.

Joshua Boyd/Wicked Local Ipswich

Jonathan Keefe just doesn’t know what he’ll see from his Ipswich Tigers boys soccer team on a day-to-day basis.

“Ask me after the Pentucket game,” was his reply when asked how the team has responded in games with what they learned in the previous day’s practice. The Tigers (4-2-2 as of Oct. 2) faced the Sachems on Oct. 3, after the Chronicle’s press time, but Pentucket, at 6-1-1, wasn’t the only menacing opponent on this week’s schedule.

The Tigers are also set to go up against Masconomet on Friday afternoon, those Chieftains who are 6-0-2.

Ipswich was just coming off its biggest win in weeks, a 5-0 victory over Triton on Oct. 1, after a 1-2-2 stretch. They had previously lost 2-0 to both Lynnfield (Sept. 24) and Newburyport (Sept. 27).

“Right now, it’s like last year – we need to be able to learn how to win,” said Keefe. “I give credit to the teams that we’ve played. They’re figuring out what we do well and taking it away. It’s on our boys to adjust to that and be able to be creative and beat people in more than one way.”

Strategy and game management were expected to be huge components in both the Pentucket and Masconomet games.

“It’s really about not trying to play into their hands,” said Keefe. “We try to play our game at our pace and at our level. Pentucket has two top-notch players against whom we’ll have a hard time, if we allow them the space and ability to be creative.

“We need to move the ball inside-outside, switch fields and switch the point of attack, offensively, and defensively, force them to the outside,” Keefe added.

Masconomet, which made a trip to the Division 1 state championship game last year (losing to repeat champion Ludlow), represents depth. Keefe is familiar with many of the Chieftains players through his work with the Aztec Soccer Club.

“They have a lot more dangerous, attacking players,” said Keefe. The defense will have a busy day Friday, for sure.

On the offense, “being creative between their midfield and their backs will be key.”

Though the team has been all over the map, the players having a tough time finding consistency as a group, at least one player has been a beacon of steady effort each game and practice this season.

“He’s just a kid who maximizes his potential every game. He responds,” said Keefe. “He’s constantly picking up on what we as a staff are telling him, and applying it. We moved him from [outside midfield] last year, and he has shined at the back position. The Manchester Essex team had a player that kept coming at us, and we moved him to that side of the field.

“We can rely on everything he’s going to bring us, and I wish I could say that for everybody,” Keefe said.

“I’ve adjusted to playing defense this year,” Whooley added. “I just worked hard and we, as a team, have all worked together well. That’s helped me be a better player.”

He played in-town soccer until fifth grade, when he joined the Ipswich Middle School soccer team, and his development skyrocketed from there.

He knows he’s still got a long ways to go as a player, though.

“I plan on sprinting more, getting back more and just working hard on a more consistent basis,” said Whooley.

Team chemistry has been a strength for this year’s Tigers, which has helped the team to its winning record.

“Everyone’s kind of close with everyone. There’s definitely a different feeling this year between the players, a feeling that we can go far,” Whooley added.

It all starts, however, with getting the job done against the very best the Cape Ann League can offer. That began Wednesday and will continue Friday.